They Did What !

I hope that “I gotcha” will matter to some. We seem to be in a society that is driven by comfort and self-involvement where even the obvious is successfully denied. If it were less true, I believe there would be millions in the streets of Washington DC just as there were a handful outside Crawford, Texas while Cindy Sheehan was still a headline.

Even with my own awareness I do slip into that convenient denial myself at times, and I’m glad you wrote this blog, as it is a needed reminder. Isn’t it ironic that comfort may eventually lead to lack of same.

I do know that I don’t buy anything from Nike, and I’ve just begun to get diligent about not buying anything from China. It’s unbelievable that nation is importing toxic food, drugs and toys to us, and that we are actually exporting them. This present government is the most incompetent and inept I’ve seen in my lifetime, made all the worse by my sense those running it don’t really care. God knows what else they are importing and we are exporting that you and I haven’t been told about as yet. Could pet food, pharmaceuticals and toys be just the tip of the iceberg?

Morals and ethic, amazing how often they are talked about yet don’t alter behavior patterns that ignore both. I wish our blogs reached a wider audience, but am glad that we can at least talk to each other and a few more.

Stephen, wouldn’t it be great if the blog at least caused some thought and discussion about what we are supporting when we make purchases. It is sometimes difficult to “put my money where my mouth is” when it comes to where I will shop and what I will buy. But once I made the connection between the products I purchase and the real cost of making them, it was impossible to ignore it.

My income is limited and when I first started hearing about Wal-Mart’s business practices – in both their manufacturing and their personnel management, I wasn’t sure I could afford to stop shopping there. On closer examination I realized that many of the things I purchased at Wal-Mart were not needs. They were things I wanted but could live without.

It was a trade-off as I find most things in life are. Once I learned to do without those wants it gave me that little bit of extra money that allowed me to buy my groceries and medications somewhere else. I do know that is not possible for everyone. Wal-Mart’s food and medications are less expensive and for many that makes the difference between having and not having these necessities.

Disney products were crossed off my shopping lists years ago because of their manufacturing labor practices. They paid less than a living wage which was already under a dollar a day in third world countries. And their savings did not result in lower prices here, only in larger profits. My children and grandchildren have not always appreciated this stand but at least they understood it as they grew older.

Each of us can only do what we can do and we should not have to account to others for our choices. But it is good to at least be aware that we have choices and that refusing to make a choice is a choice. It is my hope that country of origin labeling will eventually be on everything so that consumers can make more informed decisions.

Great blog, Trish!

There are many exploitive things going on out there that we never hear about, so that's one thing. But when we do hear about them I think it's in the interest of our larger society to do a little investigation. At the very least, I wish more people would not turn a deaf ear to information that is inconvenient to them. And of course, that includes me. While I am proud to note that I have never shopped at Wal-Mart, I have to admit that I find it hard to give up Diet Coke even while being aware of less-than-ethical out-of-country business practices of the Coca Cola Company.

What if the long run were always at the forefront of peoples' minds? Would that make a difference? How many people even have the critical thinking skills anymore, or even care, to consider what might happen down the road and how our small decisions will impact society in ever-increasing ways? How many people can manage to put themselves in the place of those who are exploited, using the excuse that, "well, they are better off now than they were, because we are giving them a job." Please. I recently listened to John Bowe on C-span2 talk about his book, "Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy." He addresses these very issues.

At some point, it seems that excuses should give way to ethics, even if one step at a time.

Renee, your example of using the excuse that the workers are better off because they at least have a job was close to an exact quote from a conversation I had with a really nice lady several years ago. I know this woman and she is an intelligent, kind, and compassionate person. I was aghast when those words came out of her mouth.

I asked her, “Then you think it is okay for a corporation to pay less than a living wage, even when the living wage is so low, just because they can?...and when the reason they can is because the people are so poor they will take anything they can get?” To her credit, she said, “No” and as we discussed it, she realized that she had never really thought about it and had just accepted at face value the corporate spin on how beneficial it is to third world countries when they build plants there.

All too often, when people are not directly affected by something, (and therefore it is not important to them) they just unconsciously absorb the storyline put out by those who have the most to gain. In turn they parrot this misinformation without questioning, unaware of what they are actually saying. In situations like this, they are not even aware that ethics are involved.

Confronting people, not in an accusing way, but by asking questions that focus on the reality of a situation, hopefully starts a thought process that leads to a deeper look at the ramifications of our actions even, as you said, if it is only one step at a time.